In unfamiliar territory, Daniels and the Bulldogs look to bounce back in 2019-2020

By @MichaelCaples –

In 2018-19, the Ferris State hockey team did something they hadn’t ever done since joining the WCHA in 2013.

The Bulldogs missed the playoffs.

That’s left longtime coach Bob Daniels thinking back to his early days as the bench boss of the Bulldogs, as Ferris State begins a rebuild.

“When I first started 20-some years ago, 28 to be exact, as head coach at Ferris, our first few years were very good, and then we went through a period of time where it wasn’t so good,” Daniels said. “I really appreciated what [LSSU coach Damon Whitten] said about how things aren’t built in a year. You put these things in place and you hope that when you’ve got everything pointing in the right direction, you can take advantage of those opportunities and those teams. I’d liken it to the first few years when I started out, there’s a loss of confidence, it’s really difficult to get that confidence, it’s tough to get that winning confidence going into games and it’s easy to lose it. You could sense it last year, we had lost a step, we lost that edge, and it goes quickly when that happens. You have self-doubt as a coach, as a staff, players, and it’s a difficult situation to be in, but you just start putting the pieces back in place and you start building that foundation.

“Everyone always talks about culture, and there’s a real truth to that. When culture starts to slip, it’s like winning, it’s easy to lose that, and it takes a lot longer to build it back up. I’ve got to say, I’m as excited now as I was 25 years ago to build that culture, getting into that office and working with the team and the players and I’m excited by the challenge and I’m excited about – actually, I’m on the road at a tournament right now, seeing a lot of our coaches here – and everyone’s hungry and everyone’s excited about putting the pieces back into place to return to championship form.”

That return to form is already underway, according to Daniels. In fact, it started at the end of last season.

“One of the first steps in the right direction I thought though, was at the end of last season, we came down to the final game of the regular season and we were mathematically eliminated from the playoffs the night before and obviously I was disappointed and concerned going into that game and Lake State, a very good hockey club. You know, we came back, we won that night…I was very appreciative of last year’s seniors of really doing an outstanding job in terms of making sure we were ready to play that night, even though we had nothing on the line. That was a real good step in the right direction for this year’s team.”

One of the main issues last season may turn into a strength in 2019-2020, and that’s experience between the pipes. Then-freshman goaltender Roni Salmenkangas was forced into starting duties after Justin Kapelmaster suffered a groin pull in early November that wouldn’t go away.

“We look at our club, last year, one of our issues was, we ended up in a with a freshman in net, Roni Salmenkangas, I think at one point he played 16 straight. He was brought in to play, but not that much, the other guy was going to split time or challenge for the starting role, Justin Kapelmaster was injured most of the season, too bad for him that he had a groin pull, came back and reinjured that, and that kept him out for the majority of the year. Roni came in from Finland, 150 pounds, all of a sudden was the guy who really had to night after night get into the net and good news, he got a lot of experience, he had some really great games down the stretch. I think the last six games of the season, I want to say, I believe he had the highest save percentage in the conference over those six games.

“He’s coming, he’s up to 170 pounds now, and I think he’s in more of a position to be a starter and play the minutes he did last year. We also brought in Austin Shaw from Princeton, he’s a grad transfer, he’ll be eligible to play right away, he’s going to be great competition for Roni, as well as a freshman by the name of Carter McPhail. We think we’ve strengthened our back-end, our net, there’s going to be healthy competition there and that’s what we want.”

In front of Roni and Co. will be a defensive unit Daniels described as a popular snack/dessert for college students.

“On defense, it’s really like an Oreo cookie, we’ve got four senior defensemen and five freshmen defenseman, and nothing in between,” Daniels said. “You can see where, ok we’ve got some veteran presence but we’ve also got the enthusiasm with the young kids there as well. On defense, last year, we lost the rookie of the year in Cooper Zech, he signed at the end of the season, and he’ll be missed, particularly offensively. He was probably one of the most dynamic offensive defensemen in college hockey, and I was sorry to see him leave after his freshman year but I wish him all the best. I think he’s got a chance one day to break the line-up with the Bruins. Nate Kallen, he was his D partner, and I think he’s due a lot of credit for the season Cooper had. He’s a great defenseman, he can contribute offensively but he’s really good defensively as well.

“Joe Rutkowski, Cam Clarke and Zach Yoder round out that field of the senior D. From the back-end, our goals against were a concern last year, and we did it at a very of ways, we weren’t great five-on-five, our goaltending at times was spotty, penalty-kill, etc., so we’ve got work to do in all those areas, but I do feel we’ve strengthened ourselves on the back-end and we look forward to lower goals-against this year.”

Daniels said that replacing the scoring lost to graduation will be a tough one for the Bulldogs.

“Up front is probably our biggest concern – we lost Corey Mackin, we lost Craig Pefley, we lost some pretty good seniors that were able to score. We return some players who I feel are close to turning the corner. We’ve got a junior class with Lucas Finner, Coale Norris and Marshall Moise, Marshall’s finally back and healthy, he had some different injury problems over the past two seasons but he’s very healthy right now. We’re looking for those guys to step up and become name players within the [WCHA].”

What Daniels does feel good about is who will be wearing the letters for the Bulldogs.

“In regards to leadership, I’ve already alluded to the fact that last year’s seniors did a tremendous job in a very difficult situation, and now we’ve got a great leadership situation this season with Nate Kallen and Dominic Lutz, Nate’s going to be our captain and Dominic’s going to be our assistant. We may add another assistant between now and the start, but regardless of whether we do or not, we feel we have a terrific leadership team in place.”

And the main goal is to get back to the postseason.

“Our goal isn’t, you know Lake State, Damon Whitten mentioned that [Lake State] want to get back to the NCAA Tournament, I think our goals starting the season are a bit more meager. Our goal is to get back into the playoffs, that’s first and foremost, and let’s see if we can’t do that, let’s develop as a team and then let’s see if we can make a run at the WCHA playoff championship at the end of the regular season. I don’t think we’re going to be in a position at the beginning where we’re talking about regular-season titles, that’s probably for down the road, but we are going to say, hey, let’s make a run at home ice, let’s make a run at the WCHA championship and let’s get into the NCAA Tournament that way. We’re looking forward to an improved season, we like the approach we have right now, it’s very workman like, it’s very humble, and we’re looking forward to a better year.”